Yahoo! News: Education News

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• Student, worker data at risk at Maricopa colleges
• U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings Turn 30 Years Old
• Watch Out for Lifetime Limits on College Savings Plans
• Gabon teachers say government 'must try harder'
• Furore over South African exam question on baby rape

Student, worker data at risk at Maricopa colleges Posted: 27 Nov 2013 02:14 PM PST Private information of millions of current and former students, workers and suppliers at the Maricopa County Community College District was vulnerable to hackers because of security lapses in the district's ...

U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings Turn 30 Years Old Posted: 27 Nov 2013 07:26 AM PST The first U.S. News Best Colleges rankings were published 30 years ago on Nov. 28, 1983. No one involved in those early years imagined the rankings would evolve into what they are today in the world of American higher education. The Best Colleges rankings have become the subject of Ph.D. dissertations, academic papers, higher education conference sessions, endless debate and constant media coverage. U.S. News was not the first to do academic rankings, but we have played a leading role in popularizing them for the mass market both in the U.S. and globally.

Watch Out for Lifetime Limits on College Savings Plans Posted: 27 Nov 2013 07:24 AM PST Parents who are able to save enough to fully fund their children's college education need to be aware of maximum aggregate limits on 529 plans, tax-advantaged higher education investment accounts. A maximum aggregate limit is the total amount a family can deposit into a 529 plan in order to pay for a child's education. Having a limit can be good for families, as it prohibits them from stuffing college savings accounts at the expense of retirement accounts, experts say. College savings accounts from different states can have different limits, a potential source of confusion for families.

Gabon teachers say government 'must try harder' Posted: 27 Nov 2013 05:17 AM PST Classrooms stuffed with 100 students, teachers striking over woeful pay and pupils taking to the streets in protest: Gabon's education system is far from top of the class. The government has temporarily shut public schools in the hope of containing protests that erupted when students returned for the new academic year in October, but the move has failed to cool a torrent of anger around the education system. In mid-November, students in middle school (aged 11-15) and high school (15-18) united to support their striking teachers by joining them in demonstrations in the capital, Libreville. "We are on strike here because our teachers are not being paid and we want to stick up for them," said Basile, a pupil at Lycee Technique Omar Bongo Ondimba -- named for the Gabonese president whose 42-year rule was tinged by accusations of rampant corruption, and whose son, current President Ali Bongo Ondimba, has faced similar charges from rights groups.

Furore over South African exam question on baby rape Posted: 26 Nov 2013 04:09 PM PST A test question asking drama students to direct a baby rape scene has sparked outcry in South Africa, where it is estimated someone is raped every four minutes. The exam question asked high school students to describe -- using the symbols of a broom and a loaf of bread -- how a rapist would stage the assault on a nine-month old baby. The question was based on an extract from the award-winning play 'Tshepang' by Lara Foot Newton, which was inspired by the 2001 horrifying rape of a nine-month-old South African child. Official statistics show that around 65,000 sexual offences were committed in South Africa in 2012 alone.

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